The present invention relates to an engine welder and more particularly to a novel rigid insert to support the cowing of a fuel tube of an engine welder.
The present invention relates to an engine welder having a cut away portion in the upper housing to accommodate a standard filler tube extending from a lower fuel tank. When this fuel tank arrangement was first introduced in the Ranger 8 by The Lincoln Electric Company, the cut away was in the top panel of the cowing with a plastic escutcheon mounted around the filler tube to enclose the cut away and support the tube. When it was desired to incorporate a vertically extending mechanical gage with the filler tube, it was no longer practical to bring both the filler tube and gage to the top panel of the cowing. Thus, an escutcheon design was developed to accommodate both the upper neck of the filler tube and the top dial or indicator of the gage. This escutcheon was constructed of a single piece of plastic as used in the Ranger 9. This plastic unit was inserted in the cut away portion of the cowing in a manner to accommodate the lower level necessary for the mechanical gage. This filler tube and gage combination is disclosed in Bender U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,926, which is incorporated by reference herein as background information. As the mechanical gage required access to a position substantially below the top panel of the cowing, the standard filler tube designed was modified for side access. In that construction, a one piece plastic element was mounted between the cut away and the upstanding filler tube. In Trinkner U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,332 which is also incorporated by reference herein as background information, the filler tube does not have a mechanical gage, but only allows side access to the filler neck. The two plastic moldings for accommodating either a lower mechanical gage with the neck or side access to the neck, each involved a single molded plastic unit mounted over the cut away, the molded plastic has an opening for sealing around either the gage and filler tube neck combination or the filler tube neck itself. These two one piece plastic units are widely used commercially and are disclosed in the two patents incorporated by reference herein.
When using a one piece plastic insert between the cowing cut away portion or opening and the upstanding elements, be they a combination of filler tube neck and gage or merely a filler tube neck, two technical disadvantages existed. First, the material of the insert was flexible and did not rigidify the cowing at the side cut away opening or stabilize the filler tube. Consequently, there was a physical weakness of the cowing in this area which could cause deflection of the cowing and deflection of the insert around the upstanding members. The upstanding tube could be deflected laterally. More importantly, the plastic used for the insert was a compromise between the need for physical rigidity and the requirement of a flexible seal around the upstanding tube. Consequently, there was not a good seal around the tube, which allowed gasoline to migrate downwardly around the tube into the area under the cowing. These disadvantages were dictated by the construction of the structures disclosed in Bender U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,926 and Trinkner U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,332.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a rigid insert for mounting in the cut away portion at the top corner of a cowing in a standard engine driven welder. This insert is made from a rigid material, such as stamped sheet metal or high hardness plastic. It has an essentially inverted cup shape configuration opened from the top and side. This hard inverted cowing insert has a lower generally flat, rigid wall with an opening surrounding the upstanding tube be it a filler neck or filler neck in combination with the upper portion of a mechanical fuel gage. The apertured lower wall of the rigid cowing insert is provided with a soft plastic or elastomeric grommet which merely fills the small gap between the opening in the rigid lower wall and the upstanding elements extending through the opening. By using the present invention, the insert is a physical depression in the rigid cowing of the engine welder. This depression could be provided by a metal drawing action; however, such drawing action would be too expensive and would cause a substantially thin cross-section for the depressed portion of the cowing. By using the present invention, the inverted insert rigidifies the cowing provided with an access cut away and stabilizes the filler tube. The gasket in the opening of the lower wall is quite flexible and allows easier insertion of the upstanding tube extending from the lower fuel tank. Thus, the insert rigidifies the cowing and the gasket is designed to provide the necessary sealing action of the upstanding tube coming from the fuel tank.
The primary object of the present invention is the provision of an engine welder with a lower fuel tank and a cut away opening in the upper panel of the cowing, which engine welder has a rigid insert fixed to the cowing to provide a lower wall with an opening matching the upstanding filler to be of the lower fuel tank.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an engine welder, as defined above, which engine welder includes a soft sealing gasket in the opening of the rigid wall and around the upstanding element protruding through the lower wall.
Still a further object of the present invention is the provision of an engine welder, as defined above, which engine welder includes a rigid cowing insert and a soft rubber or plastic seal in the opening of the lower wall in the insert.
Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of an engine welder, as defined above, which engine welder has a rigid insert that can accommodate a filler tube having either a combined filler neck and upwardly extending mechanical gage or merely an upper filler neck. Both of these elements are the xe2x80x9cfiller tubexe2x80x9d of the engine welder so a soft flexible gasket or grommet provides a seal between the lower wall of the insert and the upstanding filler tube.